Return to the cradle……

Back to the grindstone today-work on a Monday is……….work on a Monday. However, I was finally able to get my pictures downloaded after I had to reload the camera driver. First time I have ever had that happen to me. Somehow the driver became unrecognizable to Vista. So I had to delete it and reload the driver. Fortunately, I was able to load the pix directly from my card. Friday morning, believe it or not, I got up early and went for a run down to the sea wall. I ran down the street in front of Naval Aviation Schools Command. It occurred to me that thirty years ago, last week, I started Aviation Indoctrination in that very same building. Where did the time go?

I have to admit, a sense of time gone by and a touch of sadness hangs around the buildings around the Naval Aviation Schools Command building-building number  633.  The young people have no idea what the place was once like, back when AOCS was going strong and Marine Drill sergeants were running their candidates around and to and from the obstacle course. ( Which is also gone by the way).  Oh, the buildings are in use all right-but they don’t have the sense of life and expectant dreams that they had back in the day.  The complex of buildings seems to have lost its impressiveness and awe-inspiring that it once had-especially when viewed against the backdrop of the NATTC (The enlisted “A” schools that were moved to Pensacola when NAS Millington was closed) and the sprawling maze of buildings they have put over on Chevalier Field.  Sure change is necessary, but no one is ever going to convince me that moving AOCS to Newport was somehow a good idea.

Also, for me, it was the first time I had seen the new khaki enlisted uniform in great numbers. At first, I thought I was looking at a Marine-then I noticed the pants were blue, not green.  I think the CPOs have a right to be pissed off. The new uniforms suck with a Capital “S” if you ask me. Plus, everyone walking and running around seemed so damn young. I saw a LCDR walking to his car-he barely looked as if he had been weened, much less an O-4. Comes from working on a floor full of old retirees I guess. Ravages of age.

But it is the pictures you want to see right?

Here is the Naval Aviation Schools Command:

 I started class there on 30 July 1979, a long time ago and a galaxy far away. Somehow it seemed more impressive then-especially since, and it’s changed since then if you did not make it driving a destroyer or a frigate was in your future. THAT alone was a great motivator. The buildings where AOCS where:

It surprised me more than a little bit, that this was all the marker there was commemorating the AOCS graduates who gave their lives in the service of their country. Too small and not noticeable enough. I had to go back to see it while running: Here is the trivia quiz what’s wrong with the next two pictures? Here is what the sign says the livery on the F-18 static display is supposed to be: So I should see a bowling cat right? Wrong. At first, I thought it was a mistake-then it dawned on me it was not. Go look closely at the name on the cockpit-its Scott Speicher. The airplane is painted in the colors of his squadron VFA-81. It’s the sign that needs to be changed-not the livery-so that passers-by can know the true story about him. Turning towards the waterfront, I saw nothing when once there was a lot: That used to be all old hangars. Can’t remember what they used them for-save for one had a boxing ring in it. Got the stuffing beat out of me in a match with a really tough Marine, who-unlike me had boxing training and liked it. Back in the day, it was felt boxing taught you about the fighting spirit. With the advent of “diversity”-they stopped doing that. Seems a shame, two women fighting? A lot of people might pay money to see that. They had no problems 30 years ago letting men beat each other up though. Talk about a double standard. However, if there is one picture that captures the changes that have taken place at NAS Pensacola, I would have to say this one:

On the left are small sleek boats that have USAF painted on the stern. Sleek and modern. And like the Air Force probably useless for anything other than dragging around water survival students. Whereas on the right, is the ubiquitous utility boat-probably hijacked from some carrier slowly rusting in some shipyard somewhere. Ugly, big, ungainly-it nonetheless captures the versatility that young Naval Aviators and Flight officers will have to deal with. And, more than a few of those young Naval Aviators and Flight Officers will spend a long 4-6 hours shepherding drunks back to the ship in one of those. Better they see them early! Evidently, the Air Force has moved in, in a big way. They were building a simulator building out at Sherman Field and there were USAF buildings in a couple of places down here by the sea wall. No more training carrier at the pier though………………. Does anybody stop here anymore? And finally, no trip to NAS Pensacola is complete without a stop at its AC Read Golf course. The S.O. and I lucked out and got our round in before the rain started. I even broke a 100!